“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.” César Chávez, Address to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Nov. 9, 1984.The film César Chávez tells the story of the Mexican American civil rights leader and labor organizer and the fight of the farm worker community and allies to improve working conditions and secure living wages for farm workers. The film follows Chávez’s efforts to organize 50,000 farm workers in California, some of whom were braceros—temporary workers from Mexico permitted to live and work in the United States in agriculture, and required to return to Mexico if they stopped working. The braceros suffered from racism, poor working conditions and brutality. The film touches on several major nonviolent campaigns by Chavez’ United Farm Workers (UFW): the Delano grape strike, the Salad Bowl strike, and the 1975 Modesto march.

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*Co-sponsored by the Worker Justice Center of New York, the Greater Rochester Coalition for Immigration Justice, P.O.W.E.R. (People Organizing for Worker Empowerment and Respect) & A.L.A.S (Association of Latin American Students)